There was once a guy who had a dream of becoming the greatest D.J. in New York City. His name was David Holloway was from down south and moved to New York toward the end of his senior year in high school. He did not have much experience on how to D.J. in a big city club, but David knew if he was to get a chance he would take advantage of it. He had been in plenty talent shows and small town backyard parties, but he had never performed in a night club.
David graduated high school and took a job as service attendant at a local car dealership where his uncle got him a job. There he would change oil and tires on cars that was in for service. David hated his job, but continued to practice on his turntables in his parent’s basement every spare minute he could hoping one day he would be a club D.J. He worked on techniques like beat matching, showmanship, and David also studied the styles of music that is listen too in the area of the city he was in.
This schedule of working at the dealership and practicing in the basement went on for about two years, and David was getting discouraged at ever becoming a club D.J. He thought his fate was sealed with being stuck in a dead end job of working on cars. His close friends would encourage him to send mix-tapes to local clubs, but David was very particular about his craft and did not want to give his tape it just to anyone, so his tapes just could be thrown in the trash. Despite his low moments David was determine not to give up.
It was a Friday at the dealership and what could go wrong went wrong with David at work. He was having a really bad day running behind and to add salt to injury his supervisor was yelling at him about a really important client’s car needed to be finish in an hour. David calmed himself by putting one of his mixed C.D’s in the stereo while he was working on the important client’s car. The client walked into the shop wondering why her car was taking so long.
While David was under the hood a tall very well dressed lady with a golden voice asked, “How much longer?” David turned and almost passed out when he saw who it was, and started to jumble his words as he replied, “Almost finished.” David had no idea it was one of the most famous radio personalities in all of New York Angie Martinez. She asked him who made the music he was listening too. He told her it was his and Angie just shook her head up and down. She told David if he was not busy tonight she would be hosting ladies night at the Paradise club in Manhattan and he should come through. He told her he would be there, and she told him to bring his hottest 15 minute mix early before the club opens. Before Angie left she asked David what was his D.J. name, but David had not thought of one, so really fast he belted out D.J. Determination. Angie said that is a mouthful you should really consider shortening it.
David went home fast as he could running straight to the basement to produce the hottest mix he could come up with. He went to his computer and played with the name when making a C.D. cover to house his C.D. He played on his name with the first initial “D” and how determine he has been along with the turntables he use to D.J. He came up with D.J. D-turn-mine as his signature name.
David put on his best outfit and arrived at the Paradise club really early. He gave Angie his mix and she told him she needed a Thursday night D.J. if he was interested, and David told her he was. Angie said she would play his mix tonight and if the crowd likes it she would give him a chance on a Thursday night and if he do well he may be able to move to a Friday or Saturday night. Angie played the mix when the club was packed, and soon as she put it on the crowd went crazy on the dance floor for the entire 15 minutes. Later that night after the club closed Angie offered David a one trial Thursday night next week.
David knew this was the break he had been waiting for, he know with this one chance it can change his life. Paradise has made D.J. superstars, because this is where all the A-list celebrities come to party when they are in New York. A hot well known D.J. here can get a record contract and/or a world tour. The stakes were high for David, so he prepared for a solid week every waking minute he had when not at the dealership.
David also known as D.J. D-turn-mine showed up for his debut Thursday ladies night opening with an awesome mix, and he also happened to be an excellent showman. After that one night David was offered a six month contract with the Paradise club to D.J. every Thursday night, and in his fifth month he was offered a world tour by a major record label. David was able to quit his daytime job at the dealership, and became a well-known D.J.

Here below is a sped up live version of D.J. D-Turn-Mine’s debut night at the Paradise Club:

This is an assignment I came up with for my design an assignment requirement. I am not an artist by no means, so I am thinking most people should be able to pull this off. It is just my interpretation (I know this face is a inside smile) and skill set of the picture.

Sketch a picture and place the drawing next to the picture. Who is the picture of and why did you draw it.

This is a picture of my oldest child and only daughter. I drew the picture because she is away at school and I was thinking about her today. She has just over a year left and she will receive her BSN in nursing.

We as humans are powerful beings, but we sometimes neglect to use our most powerful tool…the mind. I chose to make this as my Dutch Delfware Tile, because it may be somebody who do not believe they too are a creator.

You have to take the time to quiet the mind and let it work for you. The many daily distractions we are faced with are diluting our creativity. We gravitate to what others have created, because this is easy. Easy is just the path of least resistance. Creating and pioneering can be hard work in terms of a lot of darkness to deal with before the light. I find it very difficult to rid the daily distractions and quiet my mind to actually find the materials to build my individual path, and not have to walk on what is laid for me.

This saying I placed on the tile, I try to say to myself daily. I want others who have dreams to know; it may seem hard to fulfill some of your dreams, and many “no’s” and failures may have happen or on the way, but “If you believe it, you can achieve it.” Do not let anyone stop you from placing something positive in the world.

Google Autocomplete is an oracle with strange powers to bring oddities into your life. This assignment asks you to seek out that randomness. Start with a strong phrase (things like “I hate . . .” or “I love . . . ” seem to work well.) and run through the alphabet looking for really odd autocompletes. When you find a good one, screen capture it and create an illustration that represents the search string.

This was the visual assignment I chose. The phrase I chose was, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.” The image was about five lines down on Google image page. It being the day before last day of the semester I feel like she look.

To create this I used Pixlr.com (press link to download). Once downloaded and open you should get a screen like this:

Select open image from computer

Then find your folder with your image that you took a screen shot from Google and saved on your computer. Select it and insert into Pixlr. That is your first layer.

Next you have to select layer scroll down to open image as a layer. Repeat the same process as getting your first layer and your finish product should look like the following:

You have two layers now.

In order to manipulate each layer, you have to click on the respective layer on the right of your screen that says layer.

Saving a file you select file and select save. Save it to your computer where you can find it. I find it helpful to make all my necessary folders before I start. Good luck on this one.

The first thing I did was come up with the concept of a cheesy campus commercial for this audio assignment 1298, then I searched my data base for music to support my idea of a bookstore commercial.

The second thing I did was try to get some inspiration from different music. I made a cheesy commercial mp3 folder to put songs in to use when making commercial, and then did a quick search of a word in my hard drive to see what songs I would have to match my idea. If I like a song I would put the song in a folder for my commercial. To do this I opened my hard drive folder next to my mp3 folder so I could easily drag the songs over. Below is a illustration how this should look on your screen.

I then opened my Audacity program (If you do not have Audacity go here to download it) to start to import my mp3’s and record my voice for the commercial. To import songs into Audacity select the file tab and scroll down to import and select audio. Most likely you will not need the whole song if you would like to mix it up.

I need to edit the many different songs to fit in the commercial. You will need to know how to cut songs down and remove vocals from songs to make this work.

When parts of songs are deleted you will have to move the song in place by using the time shift tool shown below this allow you to place song where you want it on the time line:

Above you can see I have different tracks with different start and stop times, because I have manipulated them with the shift time tool.

After you click the shift tool place the cursor at the beginning of the wave file and move to the left or right. This will take some practice lining up, but it is like move a text box in Power Point.
You will need to go back and improve vocals to make them sound better. This tutorial will get you familiar with the effects. I also used on one part of the vocals some re verb found under the effect tab for an even cheesier sound.

Once complete you need to export, I have done it MP3 before, but this time I am trying to save it as a Microsoft 16bit file (because of better sound quality). There are a few ways to get audio into Audacity, so I will link how to get audio in Audacity so you can be sure. Then you will need to know how to record your voice. That is a short video to show you how to record your voice in Audacity and how to save the recording.

Saving the file as a 16bit did work I was able to get my audio to SoundCloud.com and embedded into the blog. To embed the SounCloud up load. Select the share button and then the embed tab, highlight and copy the link. Paste the copy link into your new post under the text section and once back to the visual section you should see a gray box. To test to see if it appeared correctly select the preview tab on the right to view and listen.

Soundtrack credit:
My Name Is Money Sonia Leigh
Got it for Cheap Cameron Ft Skitzo
Get My Money Back Cazwell
Off the Books Big Pun Ft The Beatnuts

Today’s daily create assignment was to create a story from this picture.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon at the corner thrift store in Winslow, Arizona. Pete had packed up from playing his guitar from this morning and was seen chatting with a young lady. Roger Canyon who worked at the Inslow thrift store agreed to stay and close up since it was so slow. He had let Gertrude and Emma Lynn leave to get ready for the town Saturday Jam-around in the town square this evening. While Roger was sitting in the window watching the cars pass bye he saw his high school sweet heart Rebecca Sue Rizo who had moved away to California to be a movie star heading for the front door.
Rebecca Sue saw Roger in the window and walked in to say hi. He asked her when did she get into town and she replied, “A couple of days ago.” They had some small talk about the good old days in high school. Rebecca asked Roger if there were any more old records left around, because her new apartment came with a working record player. Roger replied, “Sure Becky, there are plenty upstairs in crates, but let me lock up and we could look through the crates. Roger and Rebecca rummaged through and played many records on the old record player upstairs. Roger clumsily asked Rebecca if she was seeing anyone. She told him she was too busy for anything serious, besides the California guys can’t handle independent ladies. “I can make it on my own anyway,” Rebecca snapped. Roger replied, “I know the feeling, you haven’t return any of my calls or letters in three years.”
When Roger heard her response, he mysteriously walked to a shelf and pulled a box down and pulled out an Eagles album. He took off the playing record and placed the needle on the song Desperado, and while the piano was playing in the beginning he walked to her slowly with his hand held out. She laughed and welcomed the advance, he twirled her around and pulled her close. They started dancing as if they had never broke up. He whispered, Rebecca Sue Rizo you better let somebody love you before it’s too late…(lyric begins) Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?

Todays daily activity is to tell a story from the end to the beginning.

End.

55 was amazed to hear such a story, because he himself have never heard of a straight flush as a poker hand winning a poker run.

The bike pulls in their garage and the garage door lowers. The ride home during the sunset with the winning check rounded off a great day for the two. The couple lowers the winning prize and hands it back to the foundation’s president. They both jumped up with joy. Doug and Anita the announcer belted! Doug and Anita! The two could barely sit still after dessert was served knowing the drawing was near. Sitting at the dinner table during the award ceremony the couple kept their hand quiet to themselves. The room was buzzing with concern, everyone wanting to know who is holding the winning hand. All the finishing bikers file into the reception hall.

The last riders pull in the final stop and chose their cards. Doug and Anita head toward the reception hall just as happy as can be, but they are trying to hide their excitement from everyone else. They have done many poker runs to know and never heard of anyone getting a straight flush. The couple selects their final card which is a five of heart. Pulling into the last stop they are admired with all the bikes ahead of them and the huge building.

Doug and Anita motor out of the parking lot heading for the final stop of the day with anticipation of drawing the final card. They both hop on their bike after the draw and a bathroom break. They draw a seven of heart from the third stops directors’ hand. Glad to see the forth stop because this was the longest leg of the ride being about 45 miles from the third stop.

They both leave the third stop knowing they just need a five and seven of heart for a straight flush which would be no doubt a winning hand. They both finish their drinks after mingling with the other bikers and host of the stop. They are feeling lucky after drawing a eight of heart and park their bike. After the long winding rural road they pull into a small country store up to a white tent.

A group of bikes on Skyline Drive

They are both not to concern about the game or winning hand after the first two stops. They are just enjoying the ride and meeting other riders. The six and eight of hearts they received from the first two stops was nothing to get overly excited about yet. Anita and Doug have signed in and paid the $20 per rider registration fee for the Poker Run. They both arrived earl and took advantage of the free coffee and snacks.

Open the garage door pull their bike out, and head on their way to get registered and start the poker run. The couple is dressed and heads to the garage after they skipped breakfast. The bikers with the highest poker hand wins $500. The object of the ride is to raise money for charity, so each biker after leaving the initial stop rides to five more stops drawing a card. Me and my wife Anita awakes on a bright and sunny Saturday morning excited about this charity Poker Run we had been anticipating to ride in. There was this winning weekend on a 300 mile Poker Run I rode on you have to hear about. A guy name Doug was at a bike night swapping bike stories with a biker named Fifty-Five (55 nick name for riding slow) he just met.

The fourth week has quickly came and went. I thought I had a better rhythm this week and planned things out accordingly. I must had misread the weeks assignments and did not think we had daily creates this wee which when I found out put me be behind this week. I was able to complete everything except my second visual assignment.
Daily create 1: Believable lie: I was supposed to video myself looking into a camera and tell a believable lie. I made up a story that friends and family had been sending birthday wishes today. I said today was my birthday and I turned 35. http://www.frederickhowell.com/daily-creates/believable-lie/
Daily create 2: Draw Nature. Today’s assignment was to sit in and draw nature. I chose to draw a scene in my driveway. The daily create was experiential at its best for me, because I do not have any artistic training or much familiarity with the program paint. I develop the mindset before I started; I know I am not an artist, so I will try what feels right instead of look right.

http://www.frederickhowell.com/?p=226&preview=true

Daily create 3 tdc922 3: We were to add words to a partial poem. I not only added words, I went on line to find an image to match the poem. I chose the image first to get my inspiration for the poem. I believed the complimented each other very well having the visual to go along with the words.

Reading Movies assignment. This was an assignment that gave some techniques on how to edit movies. I chose the Tarantino/From below clip and Examples of editing techniques as my clips to read/watch and write about. I put them in my blog and when writing about Tarantino’s From below I did not know the name of the movie in a scene I wrote about, so I screen shot it and placed in my blog to give a visual of what I was explaining.

http://www.frederickhowell.com/week-4-assignmets/239/

Look, Listen, and Analyze assignment: Analyze a movie clip that was broke up into three parts. Analyze camera work, then analyze an audio track, and then watch and analyze them both together. I did find some differences by segmenting the clip in those categories.

Bringing the Foley Assignment back to life: I was able to download a converter for videos, edit my 30 second clip, publish it on YouTube, and embed it into my blog. I also was able to give some instructions on how it was done.

Visual Assignment 1: This assignment was fun and challenging. It took way more time than I anticipated to include the research and putting it together. I am happy to acquire this skill it is something I really wanted to learn how to do. I sometime forget there is help and resources on things we want to do along with what we need to do.

Daily Create tdc924 Decide and Step: This was my final daily create for the week. The concept I did really get at first until I read a classmates post and how she was stepping on what shaped her life using stairs metaphorically. I then understood how to write my post.